(image source)
Friday the 13th 1996 started as just another day in New York. Nice weather, I was driving around not sure what to do, just moved to the U.S, decided to visit a friend of my sister in Jamaica, Queens, get the car washed. Ilan, my sister’s friend, was a car wash manager in Queens. I used to go there from time to time, as he was a friend, he let me get the car washed whenever I stopped by, then we would sit in office and talk about life, dreams (even the internet back then),
That day things changed, Ilan, as he was living in Manhattan, didn’t have a ride back home, not sure why. He was suppose to take the Subway but suggested I drive him to Manhattan, drop him closer to his area. My only objection was I have never driven in Manhattan, don’t know the roads. Ilan said no worries, he will guide me out after I drop him.
So evening comes and we’re on the way to the city, nothing unusual. We get to where Ilan was headed, I drop him, and he gives me directions to get back home. Of course, I get lost pretty quickly. Ten minutes later I pull to a parking lot, asking a stranger for direction. The person tells me I need to turn back a couple of block get to the 59th bridge (I was on 63rd/York Avenue). The time was around 6PM, night is right around the corner, streets are getting darker, and the good weather of early in the day was changed to heavy rain.
Back where I was cops were directing traffic, Manhattan afternoon, four traffic cops are moving traffic as thousands are trying to get out of New York to suburbs. First day driving in the city, rain, dark, and going out of a parking lot that doesn’t tell you if right or left would be the right direction, I took left, wrong direction. I was now facing the traffic although there was no traffic in front of me. 100 feet forward, seeing few traffic cops at York and 63rd, I turned right and now I’m back with the traffic, looking to turn left somewhere to head towards 59th.
At the corner of York and 64th, waiting in a red light, I was then approached by four traffic cops. All four came to my window, two arrived first and the other two were still on their way to the car, one officer, African American around 35-40, asked my driver license and registration. I had no clue why as I didn’t know I did anything wrong, I reached my pocket to get my driver license, handed to the officer, and before got my registration papers which were at the glove box, I asked “Why?”.
Bad mistake..not a second later that officer punched me in the shoulder, looking left and right few times to see if anyone is watching, as if he was about to do it again. You can imagine how upset I got at that moment, not knowing what’s going on.
Lights turned green and before I said anything the officer tells me “park after the light”. Still upset, I pass the light, park at the first spot I can (which was a bust stop on the right side of the street) and get out of the car. The officers walking towards me telling me get back in the car, my answer was “How can I get back in the car if you punch me in the car?”. Another wrong move, the four jump on me, beating me up as if they were fighting a lion in the jungle, only that the lion was tied up and not responding.
From the little I could see, faces of drivers in the cars not believing what is going on, thinking to themselves what the guy has done, maybe a killer, maybe a drug dealer, there must be some justification for this. New York being New York, no one will stop to help you, especially if cops are involved (aren’t they suppose to help?).
Few minutes later, with handcuffs behind my car, I finally was told I drove against the traffic. The same officer who punched me, after paying attention to my driver license, asks me where I’m from, I say Israel. His reply is “Go back to the middle east”, which followed by his ideas of why we’re bad people taking advantage of innocent Palestinians there. At that time I was still being punched from time to time behind my car by 2-3 of the officers there, not sure. At some point I adopted a new personality, something psychologists who looked at this case later said was quite common. I adopted the warrior persona, from being blamed to one of becoming one. When the officers continue with blaming me we’re killing innocent Palestinians in Israel my answer was we don’t, we kill babies, many, and I’m responsible to few hundreds of them. At the same sentence I asked the officer if he has any children. It sounds like a bad strategy but realize I was beaten up for doing nothing behind my car, so maybe that will break their pattern, which I felt it has. Officers stopped beating me down, waiting for another unit to pick me up. Other unit comes, two officers in it, and here we go again. First officer puts me inside the unit, I bleed from the first beat up and with handcuffs on, he gets inside the unit, punch me few times, saying “don’t bleed in my F car!”. Yea, like I can control that. He goes out, few seconds again jumps back in and beat me more then all the other combined, complaining I’m bleeding in the car. At that point I just couldn’t breath anymore, got a panic attack, and an hour and half later found myself in the hospital.
Now I’m in the hospital with the one cop that first punched me, gaining conscious. He cannot beat me more as there are doctors and nurses ll over the place. We don’t talk, I’m just being treated there for the most part. An hour or two later I’m at the police station, taking mugshots, and being released with two charges:
1. Resisting arrest
2. Pulling in a bus stop
For pulling in a bus stop they towed away my car so now I had to take the subway back home, around midnight.
Later they dropped the “resisting arrest” charges and court dismissed their other charge of pulling in a bus stop. We went to sue the city of New York, some point four or five years later settled with them for six figures, not wanting to live it all again in courts. In depositions none of the version of the six officers matched one another. Each saw things completely differently.
In 1997 the story was on the front page in the New York Times, with a number of other cases of police brutality.
CHALLENGE TO AUTHORITY: A special report.; Disrespect as Catalyst for Brutality
“…..The case of Sahar Sarid is one example. Manhattan prosecutors recently declined to prosecute Mr. Sarid, 22, for resisting arrest after an encounter with the police that landed him in a hospital emergency room earlier this year. His mistake, he said, was responding to a request for his license and registration with a question, ”Why?”
A month after emigrating from Israel, Mr. Sarid became confused by Manhattan traffic patterns and unknowingly drove the wrong way down East 62d Street before being stopped by the police on York Avenue. When he questioned the order to produce his license, an officer punched him in the arm, he said. He was directed to pull over in a bus stop, he said, only to get a ticket later for illegally parking there.
Mr. Sarid then climbed out of his car, he said, and refused to get back in, telling the officers he feared getting struck again. That, he said, pushed the officers to kick his legs out from under him, beat him with their fists, handcuff him and twist his fingers. ”Go back to the Middle East,” he said he was told.
On the way to the station house, the arresting officer warned Mr. Sarid not to bleed all over his cruiser, and then punched him again, he said. Terrified, he began to hyperventilate, and was taken to New York Hospital instead. Hospital records show that he was treated for a bloody nose and abrasions on the cheek and forehead.
Mr. Sarid sought the assistance of Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Assemblyman who helped him find a lawyer. A strong supporter of the police, Mr. Hikind scoffed at the idea that Mr. Sarid had done anything wrong. ”This is one of the most abusive cases I’ve ever seen.” he said. ”If this guy resisted arrest, why did they drop the charges?”
There’s not much to learn from this story that I know of, but I felt after so many years maybe the complete story needs to be told, shared, hence the reason I’m posting it here.
I’m still here in North Carolina, one more day, spending time with friends. God knows I need friends now more then ever.
Take care,
Sahar
I’m so sorry to hear this. What a horrible “welcome to America.” You’re very strong to be able to move past this. Thanks for sharing.
“There’s not much to learn from this story that I know of…”
I would say there’s plenty to learn. You came forward with your story, think of how many others probably didn’t?
And why this is purely speculative, I’m sure many of those same people who sadly had similar (or even worse) experiences were silently cheering you on and/or maybe even somewhat vindicated when your story and others ended up on the front page of the NY Times.
If you hadn’t went to the Assemblyman and gotten a lawyer, no one may have ever known what happened, and these abuses of pwoer would continue to happen unchecked.
I’m not naïve enough to say this kind of stuff isn’t still happening (not as sever, but recent: http://www.michaelrighi.com/2007/09/01/arrested-at-circuit-city/), but when victims are too frightened or ashamed or whatever to come forward, all of us suffer - regardless of whether you’re a month new to this country or have been here all your life.
Anyways, glad you got through it, hopefully you’re past it, and enjoy the last day of your vacation
Lots of police and authority figures are pricks because they can be. From your story you handled it well, just take a look at the taser incident in Vancouver airport two months ago, classic example of acting before thinking on the policemens part, only the poor guy died. I think that these situations being publicized is the only way to stop them from happening in the future. Thanks for the post it will help i am sure.
Hi Sahar,
I was choked by a cop once (in Chicago) for no reason before. Two things… 1.) It sucks big time and 2.) It really helps to write down what happened. I didn’t pursue my choking incident because it didn’t put me in the hospital or anything plus I found out later that the authorities didn’t do much about this kind of thing anyway. I think it was commonplace back then (maybe still is). I’m glad that you got at least a bit of justice for your case.
ALL cops in america are criminals. ALL of them. Because the ones who refuse to be criminals are quickly forced out of the police force– cause the criminal cops will not tolerate them.
There is no oversight to the police. The cops that beat you up should have been put in jail for 10 years… and yet they were never charged.
When you can do whatever you want wihtout getting charged, then you breed criminality.
Until these cops start getting put in jail, then I will assume that ALL cops are like these (and I expect, really, all of them are criminal in one way or another).
If you’re a cop and you think that what you do is honorable– answer why cops regularly beat people up like this and never are charged?
How can anyone wearing the uniform consider themselves to be a decent person when tehy tolerate others being criminals like this?
The only time cops will stop acting this way is when they start getting killed for beating people up. (And of course, the ones that do get state funerals as if its so horrible that a cop got killed, yet for every cop killed, cops murder 5-10 people and get away with it.)
I don’t know what cops are like elsewhere in the world, but in amercia– they are the greatest threat to anyone’s property and safety.
i drive a taxi in raleigh and one of my neighbours is a cop. Direct neighbour never said a word not even a hello.
HOW DO YOU EXPECT THIS GUY TO HAVE HONEST JUDGEMENT ON THE ROAD. He wont, being a taxi driver i deal or drive around alot of cops,now in raleigh they probably give more DUI;s here than anywhere else i have been. I just wonder, how many of this stops are actually legitimate stops or are they racially based. I sincerely apologise for the welcome you got from the african american cops. I think i owe you that apology, but being an african immigrant trust me we get no less love from the general population. Immigrants in general have to fucking fight to get anything in this world especially in america. I never came here to take anyones opportunity, i work my ass off word later hours and get every dollar that i deserve. Using illegal immigrants as an excuse is only a bandaid to the main problem. Failure to accept times have changed. Like the way people are shunning domaining right now.
And you know what, i love it. Take whatever you have made sahar and spend it and live life without impunity.
That’s quite a story to share Sahar. Brings the point home while reading it on a bus in Manhattan, made me feel it just happened around the corner!
Luckily I didn’t have any incident yet which would come even close to anything physical, but as you showed it doesn’t take much at all.
@ Nicholas - your comment about your cop neighbor made me remember something:
My wife’s friend’s husband is a cop. From what I can tell a nice guy though I barely know him so far. But he has a life size statue of a star wars figures like a Stormtrooper in his kitchen/lounge, and one of the siths somewhere in another room (the pre Darth Vader overlord of some kind? I am not big into Star Wars). I just hope it’s a healthier outlet to let some issues out through life size movie figures instead of beating people up in the real world.
PS: I hope he doesn’t google my name now, ha! He really is a nice guy
Sahar, I am amazed that you finally decided to share this story with the domain world. I remember when you told me about this unfortunate incident back in 1999. I thought you would never discuss it publicly. Racism will never be eliminated 100% because there are just too many insecure people (Idiots) in the world. I do not think it is fair to say that all police officers in New York or anywhere are corrupt and racists as one person stated. It is only a small percentage who happen to get the majority sterotyped as corrupt and racists. Unfortunately, these same people are elected officials and hired to serve and protect the public.
This type of behavior is still occuring in the United States and Europe (Italy and Germany) where the threat of terrorism is still very high. I have witnessed it first hand in europe, and even assisted individuals being attacked at a nightclub for no reason other than they were middle eastern. But it is not only by Officers of the law, the majority of it is occuring by people on the streets and night club staff.
Sept 11, 2001 created a cyclone of racism for those individuals from the middle east and india. The world created an UNFAIR stereo type that all middle easterners were the enemy, to include india(even though no where near ME). Your incident 100 X over occures all over western influence countries weekly(Wish it would end). We have all heard the stories over the years that made it public, to include American Soldiers abusing middle eastern detainees. This same type of racism unfortunately still occurs in the Armed Forces today. You can imagine how brain washed Service Members can get when stuck in a combat environment for 12-15 months at a time. It is multiplied even more when we lose a comrade to the enemy. Then we come back to civilization and have to readjust our thought process and some simply can not do it and get out of the service and find jobs serving the public. Then situations like yours occur. I can tell you that the Armed Services have put several of programs in place because of incidents like this to help an individual with racial issues.
Perhaps that cop(s) were involved in Desert Storm back in 1990 and never readjusted accordingly. Either way their actions hopefully left them unemployed.
Maybe one day we will live in a world where racism does not exist. Until then, I feel it is imperative for those individuals who feel threated by different cultures, to think out side of the box and learn about those cultures so you do not fear what you do not understand. Racism will always limit an indivuals full potential. Accept people for who they are, not where they are from or what they look like.
Sahar, you are a strong man that has had an interesting journey in life, continue to build your success and remain an icon for others to emulate. Unwanted things occur in life that most of the time makes us stronger, dedicated, and effective in reaching our goals, even though at the momemnt, it may seem like the end of the world.
Enjoy N.C, I plan on taking my boy fishing today here in Fayetteville.
Godspeed,
Steven Morales
That’s a really sad story, but not at all surprising considering Rudy Giuliani was the Mayor of New York at the time. He’s one of the most authoritative leaders of our time. And that was before 9/11. Just imagine what type of president he’ll be.
Cops are mostly pigs. I am white, never been in trouble with the law and am respectful of cops - they have the gun and the badge and they can do anything and get away with it. I was once pulled over, asked to get out of the car and shoved and *punched* by a diminutive cop. I just kept my hands down (or over my face) and took it. Eventually, he let me go. My friends in the car were shocked. I am sure that if I had fought back or gotten lippy things would have turned out very bad for me. Cops are mostly pigs.
Racism is *not* that big of an issue in the U.S. Anyone from any background can make something wonderful of their life here. That fact is proven over and over by ten’s of thousands of people from the highest levels of government to wild success in the private world.
Minority politicians *must* find racism and preach it otherwise there would be no need for them.
Several of my friends are immigrants and drive taxi’s here in Chicago. They do have a difficult time getting ahead, but that is do to their immigration status and lack of language skills - not the color of their skin.
Obviously, there are going to be people who are themselves racist. But you can find those people in every country and from every race and culture. Not much you can do about ignorance.
Sahar,
I’m a frequent reader of your blog but this is my first post (and interestingly enough it is not domain related). When I read this entry I expected you to say at the end this was about someone else or a fictional story. I can’t believe you went through that and I’m very sorry to hear that happened to you. You have certainly risen above it and done great things, just another great example of your perseverance. A person that went through that could have very easily packed their bags and headed back to the comfort/familiar surroundings of their home country. It’s not surprising to see your domain success after you were able to overcome an obstacle (this is certainly something to learn from the story, along with questioning authority and speaking out for what is right/just) of this magnitude in your life. Thank you for sharing this very personal experience, it has certainly helped me to think about things I might not usually consider.
Also, I will have to add, there are certainly bad cops but there are also good cops. You cannot paint the entire US police force with such a broad brush as being all bad or all criminals. The few times I’ve been pulled over my interactions with police officers have been completely civil and by the book. I know I’m not the only one with experiences like this. I’ve got to imagine being a police officer is a very stressful job (especially the mental aspect) in terms of putting your life on the line and not knowing who to trust. There was an incident a few years ago close to where I live that two state troopers pulled over someone on a routine stop and the person fatally shot both troopers. Cops potentially put there life on the line everyday. That being said, that should not condone in the least police abuses and police brutality. Cops that break or abuse the law should be punished accordingly and should not receive special treatment.
Thanks again for sharing this part of your life and I’m very sorry you had to go through such a terrible experience.
~Jason
Sahar, it saddens me to learn that you suffered through such a terrible — and terrifying — experience. No one should be subjected to such hostility and abuse.
“Why?” is perhaps the most perplexing question mankind has to face in every aspect of our existence, individually and collectively… and, sadly, the answers are often elusive, inadequate, or just plain unacceptable.
It is often difficult to glean lessons from happenings that don’t seem to make sense to reasonable and rational people… Perhaps the lesson is to share the stories of injustice to help increase others’ awareness and to help prevent future tragedies? In that way, your sharing your personal anguish may help bestow a blessing to others.
I hope that your sharing of your experience will bring you some sense of relief as well as the satisfaction of knowing that the injustices you experienced are not buried, forgotten, insignificant, or unimportant. You needed to speak, and others need to hear.
Sahar, your resiliency and spirit are very admirable. Rather than retreating and becoming timid or afraid of asking questions, you have chosen — and are actively moving forward — to develop Assista, as your life project, into a valuable resource that *uses* questioning as a basis to help people to learn and to solve real world problems. What a truly wonderful, and generous, gesture!
Thanks for your candor, your sincerity, and your sharing. It means a lot. You have positively touched the lives of many people through your blog, your web sites, and other activities. When you need friends, know that there are many people who care about and root for you. Call on us if we can help!
I had a close family member experience unprovoked abuse also and I thought about who really the victim is. The victim is the person who hates others because they are insecure with themselves. The victim is someone who is ignorant because they are not smart enough to open their mind. The victim is who acts with violence because they do not know how to act civil. The people who hate, are racist, sexist, do violence on innocent people, or just plain closed minded are the victims because they are the true losers. A winner is someone who faces adversity and succeeds despite of it.
There are good cops and there are bad cops. Too bad you ran into a bunch of losers that night. Stay strong and continue to succeed.
Power corrupts. Every police officer knows the power they have, and even if they go into the force wanting to do good they eventually get corrupted by the system.
I have a very strong dislike for the police.
They’ve tried to ruin my life on two occasions now.
Next week is the start of a court case against all those officers involved and our lawyers say there is an excellent chance we’ll win. It’ll be great to see some more corrupt cops taken down.
Thanks everyone for the comments. Since then I came across many officers and didn’t have problems with them, many were very kind, I would say the majority. I understand this event was the exception however it is not as rare of an exception as it could have been.
The solution, I find it to be, is to know if you are “government sensitive” or not, meaning, maybe authority power is your bad karma, regardless of what you do. If that is the case, you have to be extra sensitive when dealing with authorities, as I think i have to be.
End of day it was a learning experience and the last word on it was not yet spoken. It may have been a “calling” for me or someone who read the story to get involved or it may have been a lesson of how not to deal with officers next time you get stopped. I do believe everything happens for a good reason, and even such events, will turn out good somehow, someday.
Cheers
Sahar
amen
Wow…
What kept running through my mind while reading this was that you’re one of the nicest guys I’ve encountered and you certainly didn’t deserve any of that. I haven’t known you for long - or even very well - but you’ve consistently shown yourself to be friendly, open-minded, thoughtful, and optimistic. Hardly the type of person one would expect to be beaten down by police.
I guess that’s the story behind the story. Certain people in positions of power will abuse that power and we will all suffer under their shadow in one way or another.
I’m sorry that happened to you Sahar, but you’ve obviously taken something positive from it which is admirable.
Aside from the story I have to say that the reason I enjoy your blog is that what I find here is usually new and unexpected. Often a visit here will lead my mind off on some sort of worthwhile journey which is always enjoyable.
Bad start for a new arrival. But i know big cities in america are full of rude authority. But in the end you have won.